I looked at the projection of what was happening in the north on my war table. The tactical situation was fairly simple; it looked like the Bernans were stuck in unfavourable positions. While Elisabeth and Raphael wisely used the terrain, the Bernans seemed to believe that digging a half-country-long trench was the way to go. They were not constructing additional forts, fortlets, or watchtowers; it was just a trench literally three hundred metres from our positions. First, they had no weapons effective in trench warfare we could identify or even find traces of. Second, how the trenches were going to stop or even considerably slow down an infantry was unclear. Well, they would slow down my armies a little bit, but the effect was not worth the effort. Unless they had or knew something that I had no idea about. They were in a panic and could only face Elisabeth and my Legions using paladins and knights. The conscript pikemen who would normally serve as front line units and backup for paladins, would rather abandon their posts than fight against Twirll pretending to be Jukk'nala. After the forces and the people loyal to Berna's church had retreated, the land conquered by Elisabeth was enjoying peace, stability, and fair laws. With three Legions under her command and recruits filling the ranks of local militias in scores, the 'Holy Maiden' had already divided the Holy Kingdom of Berna in two.

But the trenches... You shouldn't waste time digging trenches if they can't give you an advantage or protection. Could they dig them to counter my cavalry? If so, that was a lot of effort that would go to waste. For the love of God, they do not have even a fraction of the soldiers needed to hold something like that. That... That was going to bother me. I rubbed my eyes and decided I should spend my time more creatively than brooding on the theoretics of warfare that shouldn't even be possible for the Bernans. I prepared a series of questions for Elisabeth and sent it to the Legates commanding her Legions. The Bernan Navy was busy chasing pirates, so it wouldn't soon attack Elisabeth's positions. Count Bernard Nova had, predictably, contacted Elisabeth and pledged loyalty to her, which caused chaos throughout the Bernan command structure. The Patriarch decided to crush the rebellious count, so the entire fourth Paladin Army of Berna crossed the borders of his county, ready to kill everyone and destroy everything. That could have been a disaster, but Elisabeth, warned by Jester, sent the Death Heralds in secret, so the Bernans were up for a nasty surprise. Aaaand probably another trauma, because the Fifth Legion's banner had become easily recognizable among the Bernans.

And they had learnt to fear it.

But I slowly came to the realisation that the situation in Berna or even in Arcadia was just a distraction. Most of the Cridians or Bernans were not my enemies. My true enemies were much more elusive and far more dangerous. The last stand of Re-kari played before my eyes from the perspective of the Praetorians, whose numbers dwindled until only one remained. Contrary to the young Elf’s final struggle, I fought only against the void's henchmen, and those fights were brutal. The nature and power of the Void and Chaos gods eluded me, but Hestia had warned me time and time again not to even try to understand them. They managed to twist and corrupt even the most steadfast and righteous Heroes who merely attempted to "understand the enemy." I frowned at that at first, but later on, I admitted that she was right. This wasn't the world I grew up in, but even back there, Lovecraft had written about eldritch creatures in his books. The very presence or mere realisation of the Eldritch Horrors' existence was enough for Mortals to fall into the clutches of madness. Could I rule out something similar taking place here? No. I also shouldn't assume I could face such horrors as their equal just because I'm immortal.

What I should try to understand, however, were the traits and desires of their Mortal servants and henchmen. If the Voidtouched and the Voidborn I had met so far served as representative examples, I admittedly don’t have anything specific to work with. They were selfish, cruel, power-hungry, greedy, and arrogant, but that's hardly anything specific. Oh, and they were backstabbing bastards. There were also very few of them. Among the scores of void and chaos servants that had died during the second siege of Avalon and the downfall of Korkas, only two others could genuinely count as the Voidtouched. All the others were cultists who, while a bit more powerful than ordinary people, didn’t even stand a chance against my armies. When the power of my Queens was turned against them, they could only die. Since then, my vigilant agents had been unable to find new Void servants, which led me to believe, with careful assumption, that they were actually rare. Still, I had my spies continue their relentless search as they spread further across the lands. After all, for hundreds of thousands of years of Nilmerthis and Aderon's history specifically, at least what was reasonably well preserved or still known, there was only one serious attempt by the Void and Chaos God's to take over the world. So the conclusion was obvious: they were in no hurry. The most critical question was: why?

"What are you thinking about, Theon?" Hestia sat near me and asked with a warm smile.

"About our enemies, my Darling," I admitted. "But don't worry. I don't try to understand the gods of void and chaos but merely try to decide how I should act."

"What do you mean?" She leaned back in her chair and looked at me critically.

"I acknowledge the argument about their supernatural power to twist anyone who even peers at them. So I won't do that. But what I can do is to look at their servants and me."

"Entertain me then. What have you figured out?" She smiled flatly.

"Oh, nothing much from these few encounters with their servants." I shrugged and took a deep breath. "But I might actually understand a tiny portion of what I'm dealing with."

"You don't have to be this brief and cryptic to impress me, you know? Tell me what you have figured out, and I will confront that with what I know."

"Sorry... My first conclusion is rather brief: they are not in a hurry. While they tried to invade this world during the Age of Heroes, their efforts before or after were rather insignificant."

"You can say so. How exactly did you put yourself in that picture?" She asked, slightly intrigued.

"I am a tool, Hestia." I saw her shock and felt the need to oppose it in her eyes. "Hush, and listen to me carefully. You, the gods who summoned their heroes, made a crucial mistake. All of your heroes were just a temporary solution to a problem. If your enemies are not bound by time, how could a hero, whose lifespan was measured by merely a few decades, oppose an enemy who just has to wait to defeat them?"

Hestia raised her finger and opened her mouth as if she wanted to argue with me, but after cutely blushing, she simply waved her hand for me to continue.

"Another problem I noticed was the attachment of those heroes. Your heroes were mere visitors in this world; they hardly felt like a part of it. Some may have started families or had friends born in this world, but they were just guests. Or maybe they were even kids, by my old world standards, taken away to an unknown, strange, and magical world where almost everything wanted to kill them. Because of that, a part of them always longed for the world they lost. Sure, there could have been a few heroes who loved this world or even completely discarded their old one, but they would have been in the minority."

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"Ok... I admit you are right, but..."

"Eriar made me an everlasting creature, my Dear. I won't die unless some very specific conditions are met, but that doesn't make me immortal, either. Still, I am not limited by the passage of time, Hestia. I am constantly battling against the World System that tries to change me into what it wants me to be: a Dungeon Core, and only you who stand by my side can protect my humanity. All those changes naturally affected my mind, so I have also changed. Even if I can't remember, I'm pretty sure my past self wouldn't recognize the current me if we passed each other on the street. However, I..." I took a deep breath and pressed my fingertips to my chest dramatically. "... Everything that made me… "me" is still there. But that doesn't matter, neither for the current me nor Eriar. I agreed to the job."

"I'm not sure if I like how coldly and uncaringly you speak about being a tool..." She put together her hands and lowered her eyes.

"If you like it better, then think of it as my defensive mechanism against my own human flaws, like hubris." I shrugged with a soft smile that seemed to comfort her slightly because she smiled and relaxed a bit. "My heart is also at peace with the world I have left behind. My life was at its end anyway; my children had their children. I died without any regrets, Hestia. I found new family and friends in this world. I would also dare to say that this attack that destroyed or stole some of my memories helped me to grow to be a part of Nilmerthis. The memories I lost could have potentially led to future regrets. You can say that I almost started anew. But everything I have said doesn't change the fact that I will stand guard for eternity, Hestia. I will be waiting for the moves of our enemies while ruthlessly weeding out any tainted place within my reach."

"But how does that make you a tool?" She asked quietly, with immense sadness in her voice.

"Don't say all of this like it’s something horrible. I am a tool in Eriar's hands, chosen by my merits and virtues or perhaps because of my stubbornness and patience. I don't care. You call him the Silent Guardian, and like him, I am a guardian of this world. However, sorry, my darling, when you all have been playing Uno, Eriar has been playing poker with Vegas-style stakes, all while cheating dirty."

"No offence taken. That's just how he is..." She smiled faintly.

"He went full ballistic and sent me here. I am sure as hell that he put you, my wives, on my path to make sure I became totally invested in saving this world. He gave me all these powers to oppose the creatures that want to invade our world. Our enemies are akin to the forces of nature. As you can't negotiate with an earthquake, you can't reason with the gods of chaos and void."

"No... No, you can't. We even tried that, but they ignored us..." She lowered her head, and I opened my hands in a shrug.

"They don't care about us. They resemble the eldritch gods of Lovecraftian mythos, at that. Like a force of nature, they crash over the gates of reality and loom in the darkness. But..." I smirked and looked her deep into the eyes. "How would you describe me, from the perspective of our enemies?"

"Hmmm... You are also a force of nature..." She blinked a few times and looked at me. "For heavens... He really prepared you for a long war."

"I'm dressed for that war, my Dear, and despite that, I almost fucked up everything." I sighed heavily.

"What...?!" She jerked up, surprised, gaining the attention of others.

"Indeed." I smiled as Amber and Luna sat near us, intrigued by Hestia's reaction. "I shouldn't have engaged Berna. I could have fortified the border and created an impenetrable wall topped with our cannons and the most skilled mages who would guard Arcadia for decades before I had to do anything with Berna. I would have done it just like that. When Elisabeth and Jukk'nala arrived in Avalon, I was ready to promise that I would stop at the borders of Arcadia. I was ready to ask for a non-aggression pact. But you know what happened. What I should have done was to focus on the Shadow Land and Leylines of the world."

The three of them looked at me with confusion painted on their faces. I sighed again and crossed my hands in front of me, pressing my back on the chair's backrest. "Everything I have done to this point was a direct response to something. I raised my Legions as the answer to the aggression of the Goblin Dungeon. I started my war against Cridia in response to their plans to subjugate me. And so on. Right now I finally have time actually to sit and think. The Leylines of the world should have been my priority from the beginning. Without them, Nilmerthis will lose its magic. Without mana, I will die, and because of me, you will die as well. But excluding my selfish concerns, Nilmerthis would stand no chance to fight the Void and Chaos without magic."

The silence in the room was deafening, and I realised they all had listened to me very carefully. Lavender and Irene were terrified. Luna looked ashamed, as if she blamed herself for not making me focus on the problem she pointed out. Hestia and Aoi were pale. Amber, however, remained calm despite the angry sparks in her eyes.

"But without securing Arcadia..." Amber started and let out a quiet sigh. "No, you are right..."

"Thank you, my Dear." I smiled faintly and slowly combed my hair as I leaned back and looked at the ceiling. "I’m not saying that I should have completely ignored the Cridians or anything like that. Korkas was dangerous, and I had to destroy him. But that does not change the fact that I should call off at least one or two Legions and move them to the Shadow Land. Except I can't do that. Elisabeth's lines will collapse if I call off even one of the three legions in Berna. I should call off the Sixth Legion from Hilgvar, but if I do that, Mia will probably lose the war, and instead of having a stable ally in the south, we would have someone who would hold a grudge that our Legion helped Mia. I can't call off existing Legions from the borders. I can't even use Fulminata or Ferrata because only those two Legions can support my other forces. I have to raise additional Legions. But there is a catch..."

"You don't have enough mana." Aoi's eyes went wide as the realisation dawned on her.

"Right... I spent everything I could to expand Avalon, built our new Government Building and homes for the Dryads, and proportionally expanded our fields and farms. Oh, don't forget about the expansion to the dungeon part. Of course, that's responding to the problems after they hit us and pretending I did something more than necessary." I sighed heavily. "But that's not all."

"You don't have resources to arm new Legions..." Amber added with a powerless sigh, and I just nodded in confirmation, opening my hands powerlessly.

"This is a very uncomfortable situation..." Irene added with an unhappy face.

"If my estimations are correct, I can't do anything about it for the next month, maybe a month and a half," I admitted and casually put my hands on my neck.

"Yet, you are way too relaxed." Luna squinted her eyes suspiciously. "Why?"

"Hahaha. Because that doesn't mean I can't do anything. Dragon's Gate is safeguarded by Legio Umbra, which recently was fully upgraded so they can defend Avalon in Shadows without much trouble. That fortress is armed with cannons and phased-out siege engines of other legions. If any forces try to attack us, I will personally go down there and explain to them how bad an idea that was. And yes, you can all go with me. I can also bolster the defences with Legio Aegis, Praetorians, Living Armours, or even regular dungeon entities. Again, that's only defending against imminent threats. But no more." I stood up and approached the window under the careful watch of my wives. "Thanks to you, Irene, I finally had time to think and protect us. No more just reacting to threats. We have all the time in the world, so I will use it for something better than simple paperwork."